An 80th birthday sounds like a happy occasion. But things are much more complicated in the case of the powerful Spanish Novak family at the center of The Tribute (El Homenaje), the new SkyShowtime Spanish original series premiering today, Thursday. 

The family thriller, from the creative minds behind Shades (Matices), which was a hit for the European streaming joint venture of Paramount and Comcast that is available in more than 20 markets, will debut four episodes, followed by the remaining four episodes a week later, on April 30. Shades stars Eusebio Poncela, in his final fiction role before his death, Miriam Giovanelli, Juana Acosta, Enrique Arce, Raúl Prieto, Luis Tosar, Luisa Mayol, and Elsa Pataky also feature in The Tribute, which tells a different story with different characters. They are joined in The Tribute by the likes of Manu Ríos, Álvaro Rico, Ángela Molina, Georgina Amorós and Óscar de la Fuente. 

SkyShowtime chief content officer Kai Finke has touted the original series’ “magnificent cast and gripping storyline.” The Tribute was produced by Secuoya Studios and Stellarmedia in association with SkyShowtime and in collaboration with Prime Video, which has second-window rights to the show.

Pataky, known for her role as Elena Neves in the Fast & Furious franchise and her work in such movies as Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, talked to THR, in a video call from Madrid, about The Tribute, her roles on and off screen and how a surprising cameo of her real-life family came about.

I don’t think it’s really about power and how much money they have. It’s about love. They’re competing for that love that they never had. [That also] influences your mental health … and your relationships. So it was really, really complicated, and interesting at the same time, to tell a story that involves so many feelings and sensations.

Tell us a bit about your character, Stella Novak. She is very intelligent, very focused, very driven, but also has all sorts of issues with her mother. It is quite a different character from your role in Shades. How was it for you to dive into this new character with a lot of the same members of the creative team that you worked with on Shades?

It was great because the team felt like a family. We love working together. We wanted to do something together again when [Shades] was done. [Sergio Cánovas] came up with the idea for a series with the same actors, but with a different story. The difficulty was to create a story that would attract all of us. They put us all together again, and they imagined something so that everyone would be happy and say, “Oh, I love my character.” Instead of saying: “Oh, I want his character. Her character is so much better!” But I think the creator knew us so well that he could develop a story that each of us was happy with.

Stella gives up, in a way. She wants to … just forget about everything and forget about her family. But she also feels that she needs to just find peace with herself. She comes [at it] with great intentions — to be forgiven for something she thinks her sister was really angry about, because Stella feels that she abandoned her. She abandoned the whole family and is trying to come back for a good reason. And then it becomes so complicated, even with good intentions, because of the circumstances of the family and the unconditional love Stella has for her Dad. She ends up doing things because she feels that she has to protect the family in a way, so that everything ends up in a good place. But she still has those big wounds.

You not only act in The Tribute, but you also executive-produced the series. How do you like the producer’s work, and how did you end up in that role?

I was talking to Sergio, the director, when we finished Shades, and I told him that this was something that I really wanted to do. I was trying to put together some projects and trying to get the rights to books. He said, “You will be an amazing producer. Why don’t we do this one together, so that you have that experience?” We’re real friends.

And it was great. It was very natural. You see things from the other side, including all the problems. So, you learn a lot. It’s great. I love that role. It’s something that I’m really interested in and that I enjoyed a lot on this project.

Did your acting experience help in your role as an executive producer?

It’s different. When I was really in a scene [as an actress], the director kept me [focused] there. But I remember one moment that was really interesting, when I put my producer’s hat on. It was a scene in which one of the actresses had to punch somebody. I could see that the actors were suffering. The director said this is not working. And I was like: “No, this is going to work. We’re going to make it happen.”

So I stepped in. The actress was really scared, because she has not done action movies. So, she was really scared to just hurt the other person. So, I came in with all this energy: “This is how you have to do it. And this is the reaction [move] that she has to do when she gets punched.” So I threw a punch for her and showed the physical reaction to make [it look and feel] real. It was great, because nobody there had done an action movie, and I’ve done it. I felt proud of myself, because it was a producer’s moment when nobody could do anything, and I had to get in and make it happen.

There is a scene with you and your real-life family in a cameo, which I’m not going to completely spoil for readers. I was rubbing my eyes because I thought I recognized this Thor frame of this man on screen and a young man, who I hear is your son. How did that cameo with your husband Chris Hemsworth and one of your sons come about?

As a producer, you always like the cheapest way to do something. We knew that we had to shoot in Australia. The director said we had to shut down [the production in Spain], and we were not going to pay for everybody to go to Australia. I said: “No problem, we’ll do it. I’ll get my husband, I’ll get my kids, and get my brother behind the camera.” We shot it very simply, with one camera. Of course, Chris was there, and it was close to my house. It’s a little surprise. And it’s so unexpected.

The Tribute is only premiering now, but given the fun the creative team had on Shades, could we see another series from this team?

We’ve actually been talking about it, because we do have such a good relationship. And I think that energy is something that you can see. When you have the opportunity to work with the same people that you love and you have such a beautiful experience with, for sure you [want to do more]. We’re trying to just get the director and the writers to do another one.